A Lotus for the Regent (21 page)

“
And what has my Lira done now?” Kamen shook his head as they
withdrew to a smaller receiving chamber. “What insult have you given my King's
guests now?”

Ajalira bowed
her head, fixing her gaze on Kamen's white linen skirt. “I told him not to be
insulted at your commands, for you share your wisdom with them at their request
and your own pleasure.”

Kamen laughed,
and Ajalira caught the twitch of his cock beneath his skirt. “Always being
saucy. At this rate, you will spend the entire voyage being disciplined!” He
kissed her brow. “But how did you know that the Seranimesti would insist on a
location other than Arinport? I mean, I understand why. What I want to know is
how you figured it out.”

“
I was trained in observation,” said Ajalira, a blush staining her
cheeks. “I was a Lotus once, you know. It is only that I could not do anything
while I was not my own.” She smiled. “Now, of course, I am
yours
, and
that makes me more myself than ever before.”

Kamen's lips
wandered from her brow to her lips.

“
Your Grace?”

Ajalira
stiffened and reached out to put her arms around Kamen's waist.

“
Yes, Lotus?” Kamen draped an arm around Ajalira's shoulders as he
turned to face Saerileth.

“
Presumably, you will be sailing in the
Aramina
, but my master
suggests that you take a guard of four ships with you.”

Kamen smiled. “I
had intended only two, but I will have the Lord Admiral bring up half the fleet
with
Mirsa's Crown
on the tide following mine.”

Saerileth
nodded. “Yes, Your Grace.”

“
And I want you to choose the two most trustworthy Lotuses to bring
with us.” Kamen ran his hands over Ajalira's horns as he spoke.

“
The loyalty of any Lotus can be bought,” said Saerileth mildly.

“
Except yours.” Kamen chuckled, but Ajalira felt a stab of jealousy.
She knew that Kamen did not consider her a Lotus, but that was not what hurt
her. No, it was the camaraderie with Saerileth, the easy trust between the two
of them that was like a knife in Ajalira's belly.

“
My master has my loyalty,” said Saerileth, and Ajalira felt the
Lotus's gaze resting on her. “He only.”

Kamen shook his
head. “Well, choose two Lotuses and 'procure' their loyalty. I will have them
sail on the other ships while you sail with me and my lady on the
Aramina
.”

“
Yes, Your Grace.” Saerileth bowed, Zenji-fashion, and left.

“
Why Lotuses?” asked Ajalira. She could not keep the unsteadiness
from her voice.

“
I will need spies, my love.” Kamen traced up the tall point of her
ear. “And not ones known to be loyal to me.”

Ajalira smiled.
“My loyalty is not for sale, either. It belongs to Lord Kamen Itenu from now
until my last day.”

She did not
understand why Kamen suddenly attacked her mouth again, but she did not
question her good fortune.

****

The deck of the
Aramina
rolled beneath Ajalira's feet, and she had to lean on Kamen for support. He, on
the other hand, was as steady as in the Sunjaa throne room.

“
I was a sailor before I became Regent.” Kamen winked at her. “So I
have heard that the Ausir call this sea the 'Aras Arlluvia'.” He pointed out
across the purpling water. “We call it the Meshkenet Sea.”

“
Meshkenet Sea.” Ajalira turned the name over in her mouth. “Did the
Sunjaa name it for the same Meshken whom Aren wrote about?”

“
Yes.” Kamen pressed her closer against his side. “Sometimes I forget
how well you know Sunjaa culture.”

“
Because I am so Tamari?” Ajalira shrugged. “According to Aren, who
is admittedly a poet, Meshken drowned in this sea.”

“
Yes. He had grown old sailing, and it was he who led the Sunjaa into
the west back in the deeps of time. He wanted to die as he had lived, in the
water.”

“
It is because of tales like this that I feel more like a Sunjaa than
I ever felt like a Lotus.” Ajalira could understand Meshken's desire to die in
the arms of his conquered foe, the sea.

“
And what is the tale behind 'Aras Arlluvia'?” asked Kamen.

Ajalira laughed.
“The Ausir came east this far, having originated in the uttermost west. When
they first saw this sea the sun was rising over it—”

“
Does the name mean 'Dawn Sea'?” Kamen rolled his eyes.

“
Yes.”

“
And it doesn't matter that now the Ausir live east of the sea, and
the sun sets there, not rises.”

“
Ausir are a prosaic people.”

“
Will it please Your Grace to come below decks?” The bearer of the
message was not the Sunjaa sailor Ajalira had expected, but rather a
sun-darkened Fihdal or Vadal man. She looked around for Saerileth. There was
something amiss here.

“
Come, Lira.” Kamen helped her toward the ladder that led to the mess
hall.

“
Where is the Lotus Saerileth?” Ajalira asked the young man. “And why
do you sail on a Sunjaa ship? You are not Sunjaa.”

“
I'm Vadal, my Lady.” The young sailor flashed a grin at her. “Where
else am I to sail but on a Sunjaa ship?”

Kamen looked at
Ajalira, obviously puzzled. “What's wrong?”

“
I did not see this man when you brought me from the Dimadan, and we
were then on the
Aramina.
”

Kamen's jaw
tightened almost imperceptibly, and Ajalira felt the slightest pressure on her
arm where he held it. “It's nothing, Lira. Ships change their crews sometimes.”

She knew that
Kamen understood her disquiet, and he trusted her instincts. She did not want
to speak so openly before the strange man as to reveal that she heard Fihdal
accents, not Vadal, on his speech. Though the language was the same, the accent
was different, and it showed through even when speaking Sunjaa, as the man had.

Kamen climbed
down the ladder first, and as soon as his head was below the deck, the Fihdal
sailor closed the hatch, separating Ajalira from Kamen.

Ajalira,
however, would not allow that. She was, she knew, abnormally strong, and though
she had never mastered the Lotus Forms, she was quite good with a blade. She
drew the dagger that Kamen had given her, and its aquamarines flashed in the
moonslight. The sailor lunged at her, and she heard the sounds of struggle
below the deck. Fury filled her, and as the sailor came at her, she stood her
ground, despite the rolling of the deck. He did not reach her, though. Ajalira
dropped to one knee and lashed out low, severing the tendons in the sailor's
ankle just as his hands closed over where she had been standing. She rose and
slit his throat, then darted to the hatch. She lifted it and dropped down
inside, ignoring the ladder.

Her wordless
Tamari battle cry filled the hold, and Ajalira saw at once that two men were on
Kamen, who fought against them valiantly despite the fact that his left arm
hung useless at his side. Ajalira screamed again and leaped onto one of Kamen's
enemies, pulling his head back by the hair. His throat was bared with the
motion, and Ajalira slit it quickly, just as Kamen broke the neck of the other.
At that moment Saerileth rushed out into the hallway, spattered with blood.

“
Thank Abrexa!” Saerileth showed more emotion than Ajalira had ever
seen in her. “My master would have been furious if I had let you die.”

“
Where were you?” Ajalira did not realize until she saw Kamen's blank
stare that she had spoken in Ausir.

“
Killing the six men assigned to take me down.” Saerileth's
discomposure was already gone.

A slight grunt
from Kamen drew Ajalira's attention, and she forgot Saerileth's existence. A
small dart was embedded in Kamen's shoulder.

“
Poison.” Saerileth spoke matter-of-factly. “But not deadly.”

“
Why not?” asked Kamen. Ajalira pulled the dart from his shoulder and
placed her lips over the wound.

“
Unless one is quite skilled in assassination, deadly poisons can
kill the assassin as easily as the target,” said Saerileth.

“
Lira?” Kamen reached over with his good hand to caress her hair.
“You don't have to—”

Ajalira, her
mouth full of the venom she was sucking out, could not answer, but Saerileth
patted her shoulder.

“
You have a loyal and loving concubine, Your Grace.” Saerileth smiled
as Ajalira spat out the first mouthful of venom. “I found most of the crew
drugged below decks. We should be able to get underway again in a couple of
hours. I will just drop anchor until then.” She glided away, and for the first
time, Ajalira did not hate her.

Chapter Twelve

Godswatch was
nothing like Arinport. It was cold, and even the sea looked different, darker
and more menacing. When Kamen came above decks to view the approach into the
harbor, he had to have a slave go fetch him a shirt. Fog lay over the city, and
Kamen shivered at the sight. There would be no bare-chested guards to greet
them, only chain hauberks, helmets, and steel boots, armor that would do more
harm to a man than good in the desert. Like the delta of the Sweetwater, the
hinterland of Godswatch was green, though the trees that grew there were either
tall and pointed or fat, sprawling things, nothing like the olive, fig, or palm
trees of Arinport.

Ajalira slipped
her arms around Kamen's waist, hugging him from behind. "This is nothing,
my love. We Tamari come from lands far north even from here, barren wastes of
snow where the ground lies frozen even in summer."

Kamen shook his
head. "Not a place fit for habitation. Why did your people go there?"

"Ellon
Tamar, our great leader, led my people there centuries ago in protest against
his cousin whom he thought had wronged his nation. That created the schism of
the Ausir, and Ellon would not live anywhere near those he considered
dishonorable. He was a soldier, bred for battle, and he lived for a challenge.
And so he led his Tamari—for that is what he called his brave, fighting
men—north and north until they crossed the Vise and settled in Icedeep."

"Tamari,
eh?" Kamen turned around and hugged Ajalira back. "They took his
surname name, then?"

Ajalira shook
her head and leaned up to kiss Kamen's lips. "Tamar was not Ellon's name.
He was Khajira, of royal blood and cousin to the King. 'Tamar' was what his men
called him after he had bathed in the blood of his slain Nohr foes."

"What does
it mean?"

"'Savage'."

"And so
your people are known as 'the Savages'?"

Ajalira nodded,
her lips curling into a wry smile. Kamen did not even have to say how silly he
thought that was. "So, Ellon left on a point of honor alone? How much you
must be like him."

Ajalira smoothed
back Kamen's mass of dreadlocks. "You are kind to say so. There is no
higher praise for a Tamari."

"I cannot
praise you too highly." Kamen pulled her in tightly just as the sailor at
the bow blew his fog horn.

They sailed
straight into the harbor to find Seranimesti and Kimereth ships already there.
The red rose and the silver fish flew from their tall masts, fluttering in the
sea breeze. When they docked, Kamen found not only pale-skinned guards native
to the city waiting for him but also delegations from the Seranimesti and the
Kimereth.

Everyone jostled
for position to get near the Regent, all vying for the opportunity to escort
him to the festhall.

****

"Are you
ready?" Kamen walked up behind Ajalira who sat at her dressing table. He
looked at her reflection in the remarkably clear mirror. "This place is
opulent."

"The
festhalls of Godwatch are legendary." Ajalira finished pinning her last
braid around her horns. "When they rebuilt the city after the cataclysm,
they say the first things erected were the festhalls. Almost all business is
contracted within their corridors, baths, or banquet halls."

"And the
men of Godwatch are businessmen first, I hear." He laid his hands on her
shoulders.

Ajalira stood
and turned around, and Kamen's breath caught. She looked lovely, queenly even.
Her crimson dress swept the floor, hiding her feet yet hugging her thighs. The
high waist pushed her breasts up into the bodice of the dress. She wore the
silver, teardrop crown Kamen had given her as well as a necklace of rubies.

Kamen stepped
back to admire her. "The color suits you."

"If I am to
reveal myself to my countrymen," Ajalira said, "I will do so in the
color that best suits a Tamari."